Japan`s Jera Sees Diversification as Key Amid Growing Middle East Tensions

The current diplomatic crisis involving Qatar and some of its Middle Eastern neighbors supports the strategy of Jera. Japan`s largest LNG importer. to diversify its LNG portfolio. an executive of Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday.
`What I feel following the recent [Qatar] affair is that you need to diversify your portfolio if you think about geopolitics. and that has been the key pillar of our strategy.` Toshihiro Sano. president of Tepco Fuel &amp. Power Inc.. told a press conference Thursday.
Not only should producing places be diversified but pricings of contracts need to be too. Sano said.
He said he has not seen any impact from the moves by Saudi Arabia. Bahrain. Egypt. Yemen. Libya and the UAE on Monday to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.
But he added that if the situation continues the effect may be felt. especially in the spot market.
Sano said Qatari volumes account for about 20% of Jera`s portfolio. which stands around 35 million mt.
Qatar exported 78.8 million mt of LNG in 2016. more than 30% of a total global supply of 257.8 million mt. according to Platts Analytics.
In 2016. Qatar was the third-largest LNG supplier to Japan. sending around 12 million mt. or 14.5% of the country`s overall imports. according to Japan`s Ministry of Finance.
On Thursday. Tepco and Chubu Electric also signed an agreement to merge their existing power generation plants by the first half of fiscal year 2019-20 (April-March) under Jera.
As a result. Jera will have power generation with total capacity of 67 GW. according to the two utilities.

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